When John Paul II picked his name (right after John Paul I died shortly after becoming pope), a comedian joked that the name "John Paul" hadn't worked out too well, and that the new Pope should have chosen a different name, such as George Ringo.
Natter 34: Freak With No Name
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Ratzinger was in the Hitler Youth. For real.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't calling him a Nazi a little unfair? He was just in the army; he wasn't a member of the Nazi party. eta: (I think)
He's heir to a man who compared the pro-choice movement to the Holocaust. I'm not currently inclined to be cutting him a lot of semantic slack.
Ratzinger was in the Hitler Youth. For real.
Yes, but wasn't that required of all boys?
Weren't the Nazis anti-Catholic? I had that impression.
Ratzinger is even more conservative than John Paul. And his out-of-the-blue denunciations of the Beatles in 1996 - a quarter century after they split up - and insistence that the rock band AC/DC's name meant "anti-Christ, death to Christ" cemented the impression among many young Catholics that Ratzinger was out-of-touch.
Ratzinger was in the Hitler Youth. For real.
When you're surrounded by mad dogs, not smelling like a rabbit is not stupid.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't calling him a Nazi a little unfair? He was just in the army; he wasn't a member of the Nazi party. eta: (I think)
I assume that most Germans of a certain age can be described as being on the German side of the war. It doesn't mean he still subscribes to it.
I heard someone on BBC say that his position as defender of the orthodoxy makes him seem more orthodox than he may be personally.
AC/DC's name meant "anti-Christ, death to Christ
Oh gimme a break. It means, "After Christ, Devil Comes." Jeebus.
John Garfield was the victim of an assassination attempt, too. Sorry, that one succeeded, right?
James Garfield. John was an actor in the forties. Someone took some shots at Truman, too.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't calling him a Nazi a little unfair? He was just in the army; he wasn't a member of the Nazi party. eta: (I think)
Also, he was only eighteen when the war ended. The Germans had a lot of kids in the army near the end.
eta: And what everyone else said about the Hitler Youth. He had no choice.